Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-09-01
OF GENE RAJ INTEREST.


-Twenty-eight unmarried women
reside in Garfield County Col, also
a thousand unmarried men. All the
men can't get a wife from among the
twenty-eight, and it probably puzzles
the women to make a choice among
the thousand.
The two oldest trees in the world
are supposed to be the one in Calaveras
County. Cal, that is believed to be
1865 years old, and the cypress of
Somma, in Lombardy, Italy, that is
1,911 years old, or planted forty-two
years before Christ.
An Ohio wedding was first post
poncd because the girls mother died.
Then the young mans father died;
then the girl broke a leg; then the
young man got kicked by horse.
Last week it was postponed again be-
cause the girls father got mangled in
reaper. Won't they be happy couple
if they ever do get spliced!
"A citizen of Cincinnati thought
that he had sure fortune in a kitten
which had five heads, five tails, ten
fore legs, and five hind legs. He also
thought that it ought to have about
forty-ive lives and was good for many
years, but after brief career of fifteen
days the little monstrosity died, the re-
suit of too much handling by the Gu
rious.
One of the queerest facts in nat
ural history has been discovered by
Rev. j. j. Lafferty, of Richmond, who
gives it to the world in his religious
journal as follows: when sparrow
hawk pOunces on a guinea, he lets the
guinea fly, but the hawk, sitting on the
back of the fowl, uses his own tail to
guide the guinea. He always steers
his victim to his nest in the forest"
"A model for machine-gun car
riage, the invention of Colonel Buffing-
ton, has just been completed at the
United States Armory at Springfield.
Mass. 1t is ingeniously constructed,
promising to revolutionize this feature
of modern warfare. The carriage fur
nishes complete protection to the
gunners, and will render the men who
are working it as safe as they would be
inside all ironclad.-N. Y. Post.
Mr.. Barber, of Lyonsdale, N. Y,
threw his black Newfoundland dog
into the stream there when twas quite
high, and the animal was carried over
the dam. Instead of going down
stream, an eddy carried him to the dry
rocks under the dam, from which he
was unable to make his escape until
the water receded. He remained there
twenty-One days without food, and
when he came out his hair had nearly
all turned white.
The Galveston NeWs is authority
for the statement that in 1880 there
were only about 500 miles of railway in
Mexico, while by the close of the pres
emf year there will be over $500, with
a capital of about $120, 600, 900 invested.
OF the total mileage 2,700 are owned
and operated by Americans. An idea
of the value of railway construction to
Mexico may be obtained when it is
stated that the revenues of the country
have increased from ST., 800, 900 in 1879
to $33, 900. 600 in 1886.
There are over 100, 600 horses used
in hauling street cars in the United
States. Chicago has 1925; Cincinnati,
1,175, and st. Louis, 2,815. Five years
is more than the average useful life of
a horse for street car purposes. The
success of the system for propelline
street cars by electricity has convinced
street car men that the horses must 90,
more especially since it has been thor
oughly demonstrated that cars can be
run by electricity under the system for
one-half the cost of running by horses.
"A Kingston man who heard about
the accident which was occasioned by a
team running over a couple of cattle
said that cows were very deceiving an
imals on a road for horsemen, because
they had such ''dumb way" of back
ing or walking in front of vehicle.
In fact it is impossible to tell just what
a COW will do. 1.-The only thing to do
is when you see a COW ahead of you in
the road give the animal a wide berth,
for if you drive close TO her the chances
are that she will put herself in front of
the wheel. When a wagon strikes Il
cow it is like running against stone
wall and the wagon is apt TO suffer for
it "-hifagSt0n Freeman
1t has frequently been argued, from
the weight of their armOr and the char
acter of their weapons, that the SOL
diers of the Roman legions were strong
er men than are the troops of modern
Europe This question has lately been
investigated with much care and dill
gent research by Prof. Angelo Mosso,
Of Turin. who is thoroughly familiar
with the Italian army. He declares
that ''in point of stature and bodily
power the modern soldier is in no wav
inferior to the ancient" He thinks.
however. that the modern soldier is Of